Michael Ranta

Researcher

Department of Cultural Sciences Faculty of Arts and Humanities

michael.ranta@lnu.se

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Ph.D. 2000, Associate Professor 2017 in Art History (Stockholm University, Sweden)

Congresses (with presentation)

Semiotics International Forum (Chengdu, China) – August 2023 (online)
XXIInd International Congress of Aesthetics “Contemporary Aesthetics: Dialogues through Art, Culture and Media” (Belo Horizonte, Brazil) - July 2023
15th World Congress of Semiotics "Semiotics in the Lifeworld" (Thessaloniki, Greece) – August/September 2022
9th National Congress of Aesthetics (Shenzhen, China) - November 2021 (online)
14th World Congress of Semiotics "Trajectories" (Buenos Aires, Argentina) - September 2019
XXIst International Congress of Aesthetics “Possible Worlds of Contemporary Aesthetics: Aesthetics Between History, Geography andMedia” (Belgrade, Serbia) - July 2019
"The 15th Nordic Bronze Age Symposium",Lund, June 2019
"20th International Rock Art Congress IFRAO 2018 (Darfo Boario Terme, Italy) - August/September 2018
Conference ”The interaction and interpenetration between theoretical construction of literarycriticism, value system, and cultural semiotics” (Tianjin, China) - June 2018
Conference "Rock Art Worldings - Chronologies, materialities and ontologies" (Kalmar, Sweden) - October 2017
XXth International Congress of Aesthetics "Aesthetics and Mass Culture"(Seoul, South Korea) - July 2016
Conference "Mind-Media-Narrative" (Warsaw, Poland) - June 2016
1st International Symposium on Cultural and Communication Semiotics (Chengdu, China) - July 2015
7th Global Conference: Storytelling (Dubrovnik, Croatia) - May 2015
Conference "Image. Narration. Context." (Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany) - March 2015
Conference "Relevance and Narrative" (Wuppertal, Germany) - September/October 2014
The First Conference of the International Association for Cognitive Semiotics (IACS)(Lund, Sweden) - September 2014
12th World Congress of Semiotics: "New Semiotics
Between Tradition and Innovation" (Sofia, Bulgaria) - September 2014
3rd Global Conference: “Beauty: Exploring Critical Issues” (Oxford,UK) - September 2013
XIXth International Congress of Aesthetics "Aesthetics in Action"(Kraków, Poland) - July 2013
3rd European Narratology Network conference: Emerging Vectors of Narratology - Toward Consolidation or Diversification? (Paris, France) - March 2013
2nd Global Conference: Storytelling (Salzburg, Austria) - November 2012
NORDIK 2012 Conference for Art History (Stockholm, Sweden) - October 2012
Conference “Aesthethics as Narration and Meta-Narration” (Gdansk, Poland) – September 2012
22nd Congress of The International Association of Empirical Aesthetics (IAEA): "Aesthetics@Media, Arts & Culture" (Taipei, Taiwan)- August 2012
Conference "What Are Artworks and How Do We Experience Them?" (Aarhus, Denmark) - January 2012
Conference "Semiotic Society of America Annual Meeting - Worldviews" (Pittsburgh, USA) - October 2011
Congress “Aesthetics and Politics“ arranged by NSE (Copenhagen, Denmark) - May 2011
XVIIIth International Congress of Aesthetics “Diversities in Aesthetics“(Beijing, China) - August 2010
Congress “Aesthetics and the Aesthetic: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives“ arranged by NSE (Uppsala, Sweden) - May/June 2008
XVIIth International Congress of Aesthetics “Aesthetics Bridging Cultures“ (Ankara, Turkey) - July 2007
Congress “The Limits of Aesthetics“ arranged by NSE (Aarhus, Denmark) - May 2007
Wonderground - The 2006 Design Research Society International Conference in Lisbon, Portugal - November 2006
Congress “Art, Aesthetics, Life“ arranged by NSE (Jyväskylä, Finland) - May 2006
Congress “Aesthetics and Contemporary Art“, arranged by NSE (Oslo, Norway) - May 2005
XVIth International Congress of Aesthetics (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) - July 2004
Congress “Aesthetics and Art Research“, arranged by NSE (Helsinki, Finland) - May 2002
XVth International Congress of Aesthetics (Tokyo, Japan) - August 2001
Congress “Aesthetics and Contemporary Art“, arranged by NSE and Deutsche Gesellschaft für Ästhetik (Berlin, Germany) - October 2000
XVIth Congress of the International Association of Empirical Aesthetics (New York, USA) - August 2000
VIth Nordic Congress of Art History, arranged by NORDIK (Uppsala, Sweden) - June 2000
Conference “Estetiken och konstarternas historia“("Aesthetics and the History of the Arts"), arranged by Nordiska sällskapet för estetik ["Nordic Society of Aesthetics" - NSE] (Umeå, Sweden) - June 2000
XVth Congress of the International Association of Empirical Aesthetics (Rome, Italy) - September 1998
VIth International Congress of Semiotics (Guadalajara, Mexico) - July 1997
XIIIth International Congress of Aesthetics (Lahti, Finland) - August 1995

Teaching

Various teaching commissions at Stockholm university, Konstfackskolan (Stockholm), Sichuan University (Chengdu, China).

Research

The working title of my ongoing research approach is "The Representation of Action and Time in the Visual Arts".

A central issue concerns the capacity of pictorial representations to render various forms of narratives and temporal structures. Which role play in this context mental and typifying (categorizing) ideas on behalf of beholders with regard to various conceivable action sequences? And how can pictorial representations imply or presuppose wider world views or meta-narratives? These issues will be investigated from an interdisciplinary perspective (especially from art history, philosophy, semiotics, narratology, cognitive psychology, and anthropology) and related to concrete art historical and archaeological material.

Commissions

2010 -2019 I have been employed as a researcher at the "Center for Semiotic Studies", Lund University.

2014 - 2016 I have been involved in the interdisciplinary research project "The Making of Them and Us: Cultural Encounters Conveyed Through Pictorial Narrative", funded by the Marcus and Amalia Wallenberg Memorial Foundation (Lund University).

2017 - 2019 I have participated in the project "Storytelling in Rock Art", funded by the Swedish Research Council (Lund University / Linnaeus University).

2022 - 2024 I will participate in the project "From Shapes to Action (SHACT) - The Narrative Turn in Prehistoric Image-Making in Northern Europe", funded by the Swedish Research Council (Linnaeus University).

2018 - 2024: Visiting professor at Sichuan University (Chengdu, China).

Publications

Doctoral thesis, monograph (Other academic)

Ranta, M. (2000). Mimesis as the Representation of Types : The Historical and Psychological Basis of an Aesthetic Idea. Doctoral Thesis. Stockholm, Konstvetenskapliga institutionen. 285.

Book (Refereed)

Ranta, M. (2022). How Pictures Tell Stories : Essays on Pictorial Narrativity. Cambridge Scholars Publishing.

Chapter in book (Refereed)

Ranta, M. (2019). Communication, Life, and Dangerous Things : On Relevance and Tellability in Pictures. Relevance and Narrative Research. Lexington Books. 81-105.
Ranta, M., Xin, P., Hu, J. (2019). 大叙事和他者（图像）的构建：第三帝国的反犹太人形象. Master Narratives and the Pictorial Construction of Otherness : Anti-Semitic Images in the Third Reich and Beyond. Nanjing University. 315-335.
Ranta, M. (2016). Art : On the Evolutionary Foundations of Art and Aesthetics. Human Lifeworlds : The Cognitive Semiotics of Cultural Evolution. Peter Lang Publishing Group. 123-144.
Cabak Rédei, A., Ranta, M. (2016). Narrativity : Individual and Collective Aspects of Storytelling. Human lifeworlds : the cognitive semiotics of cultural evolution. Peter Lang Publishing Group. 145-162.
Ranta, M. (2014). Iconography, Narrativity, and Tellability in Pictures. Art Theory as Visual Epistemology. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. 81-94.

Article in journal (Refereed)

Ranta, M. (2023). The Aesthetic Relevance of Iconicity in the Visual Arts. Signs & Media. (27). 15-31.
Status: Published
Skoglund, P., Ranta, M., Persson, T., Cabak Rédei, A., Gjerde, J.M. (2023). A Narrative Turn : Human Agency in Rock Carvings at Nämforsen, Northern Sweden. Oxford Journal of Archaeology. 42 (4). 301-321.
Status: Published
Skoglund, P., Ranta, M., Persson, T., Cabak Rédei, A. (2022). Narrative Aspects of Images of Spear Use in Scandinavian Rock Carvings. European Journal of Archaeology. 25 (2). 176-195.
Status: Published
Ranta, M. (2021). The Role of Schemas and Scripts in Pictorial Narration. Semiotica. (241). 1-27.
Status: Published
Ranta, M., Skoglund, P., Persson, T., Gjerde, J.M. (2020). Hunting stories in Scandinavian rock art : Aspects of 'tellability' in the north versus the south. Oxford Journal of Archaeology. 39 (3). 228-246.
Status: Published
Ranta, M. (2020). Mao’s Homeworld(s) : A Comment on the Use of Propaganda Posters in Post-War China. Semiotica. (232). 53-78.
Status: Published
Ranta, M., Skoglund, P., Redei, A.C., Persson, T. (2019). Levels of Narrativity in Scandinavian Bronze Age Petroglyphs. Cambridge Archaeological Journal. 29 (3). 497-516.
Status: Published
Ranta, M. (2017). Master Narratives and the (Pictorial) Construction of Otherness : Anti-Semitic Images in the Third Reich and Beyond. Contemporary Aesthetics. 15.
Status: Published
Ranta, M. (2015). (Od)tworzenie porządku : narracyjność i światopoglądy ukryte w obrazach. Tekstualia. 4 (43). 57-78.
Status: Published
Ranta, M. (2013). (Re-)Creating Order : Narrativity and Implied World Views in Pictures. Storyworlds: A Journal of Narrative Studies. 5. 1-30.
Status: Published
Ranta, M. (2011). Stories in Pictures (and Non-Pictorial Objects) : A Narratological and Cognitive Psychological Approach. Contemporary Aesthetics. 9 (1).
Status: Published
Ranta, M. (2010). Narrativity and Historicism in National Socialist Art. kunsttexte.de. 3.
Status: Published
Ranta, M. (2007). Implied World Views in Pictures : Reflections from a Cognitive Psychological and Anthropological Point of View. Contemporary Aesthetics. 5.
Status: Published
Ranta, M. (2002). Categorization Research and the Concept of Art : An Empirical and Psychological Approach. Nordisk Estetisk Tidsskrift. 25-26. 13-25.
Status: Published
Ranta, M. (2001). Theories and Observations in the History of Art : A Comment on a Central Issue within the Philosophy of Science. Konsthistorisk Tidskrift. 70 (1-2). 40-45.
Status: Published
Ranta, M. (1993). Derrida och tolkningsrationalitet. Filosofisk Tidskrift. 14 (3). 3-24.
Status: Published

Article in journal (Other academic)

Ranta, M. (2016). The (Pictorial) Construction of Collective Identities in the Third Reich. Language and Semiotic Studies. 2 (3). 107-124.
Status: Published
Ranta, M., Erzen, J. (2016). Report on the XXth International Congress of Aesthetics : “Aesthetics and Mass Culture” Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea, 24-29 July 2016. Contemporary Aesthetics. 14 (1).
Status: Published
Ranta, M., Erzen, J. (2013). Report on the XIXth International Congress of Aesthetics : “Aesthetics in Action”, Jagiellonian University Kraków, Poland 21-27 July 2013. Contemporary Aesthetics. 11.
Status: Published
Ranta, M. (2010). Report : The XVIIIth International Congress of Aesthetics- "Diversities in Aesthetics" (Peking University, Beijing, China, 9-13 August 2010). Contemporary Aesthetics. 8.
Status: Published
Ranta, M. (2010). Report : The XVIIIth International Congress of Aesthetics- "Diversities in Aesthetics" (Peking University, Beijing, China, 9-13 August 2010). kunsttexte.de. 2.
Status: Published
Ranta, M. (2002). XVth International Congress of Aesthetics - Makuhari/Tokyo, 27.-31. augusti 2001. Nordisk Estetisk Tidsskrift. (25-26). 145-148.
Status: Published

Article in journal (Other (popular science, discussion, etc.))

Persson, T., Ranta, M., Skoglund, P. (2021). Vilka historier kan hällristningar berätta?. Populär arkeologi. 16-19.
Status: Published
Ranta, M. (2015). Norr om Vientiane. Tidningen Kulturen.
Status: Published
Ranta, M. (2015). Ett land för upptäcktsresande. Kulturens värld. (1). 34-39.
Status: Published
Ranta, M. (2014). Kommissarie Morse och Oxford. Kulturens värld. 4 (4). 40-45.
Status: Published
Ranta, M. (2014). En ”Petit Tour” till norra Italien. Kulturens värld. 2 (2). 40-47.
Status: Published
Ranta, M. (2013). Mästerlig träsnidare. Kulturens värld. (4). 46-51.
Status: Published
Ranta, M. (2012). En kosmopolitisk metropol med rikt kulturliv. Kulturens värld. (4). 48-53.
Status: Published
Ranta, M. (2011). Villorna i Tivoli. Kulturens värld. (1). 22-27.
Status: Published
Ranta, M. (2011). Landskap som ur en sagobok. Kulturens värld. (3). 34-41.
Status: Published
Ranta, M. (2010). De slovakiska Karpaterna : Höga Tatra, träkyrkor och slott. Kulturens värld. (1). 36-41.
Status: Published
Ranta, M. (2008). Ett drömlandskap med fängslande historia. Kulturens värld. (3). 10-17.
Status: Published
Ranta, M. (2006). Kokoschka och Prometheus-myten : Oskar Kokoschka, Courtauld Institute of Art Gallery, London, 29/6 - 17/9 2006. Omkonst: Konstnärer skriver om konst.
Status: Published
Ranta, M. (2006). Brasiliansk barock med afrikanska accenter. Kulturens värld. (3). 26-31.
Status: Published
Ranta, M. (2006). Hitlers hovskulptör väcker debatt. Dagens Nyheter.
Status: Published
Ranta, M. (2005). Originalitet och skönhet. Bild i skolan. (2). 25-27.
Status: Published

Article, book review (Other academic)

Ranta, M. (2000). Litteratur : Hans-Olof Boström (red.), Tolv begrepp inom de estetiska vetenskaperna. Konsthistorisk Tidskrift. Taylor & Francis. (3-4). 235-238.
Status: Published

Conference paper (Other academic)

Ranta, M. (2017). Do Rock Carvings Tell Stories? : Aspects of Narrativity in Scandinavian Bronze Age Petroglyphs. Proceedings of ICA 2016 : Aesthetics and Mass Culture - Aesthetics and Mass Culture. 523-531.
Ranta, M. (2015). Art, Aesthetic Value, and Beauty : On the Evolutionary Foundations of ‘Narrative Resemblance Concepts’. Proceedings of 19th ICA 2013 Krakow : Naturalizing Aesthetics. 59-69.
Ranta, M. (2013). Stories in Pictures (and Non-Pictorial Objects) : A Narratological and Cognitive Psychological Approach. Diversities in Aesthetics : Selected Papers of the 18th Congress of Intternational Aesthetics. 678-698.
Ranta, M. (2013). Tellability in Pictorial Storytelling. Video of presentation at the 3rd European Narratology Network conference : Emerging Vectors of Narratology - Toward Consolidation or Diversification? (Paris, France) – March 2013.
Ranta, M. (2012). An Exploratory Pilot Study on Pictorial Narrativity and Eye Scan Patterns. 22nd Biennal Congress of The International Association of Empirical Aesthetics (IAEA) : Aesthetics@Media, Arts & Culture. 66-87.
Ranta, M. (2006). Implicita världsbilder i bilder : Reflektioner utifrån ett antropologiskt och kognitionsteoretiskt perspektiv”. Konsterna och själen : Estetik ur ett humanvetenskapligtperspektiv. 132-150.
Ranta, M. (2006). Design : category formation, prototypicality and (aesthetic) preference. Wonderground : Design Research Society International Conference Lisbon.
Ranta, M. (2002). Narrativity and Time in Static Pictures : An Approach Influenced by Categorization Research within Cognitive Psychology. Selected Papers of the 15th International Congress of Aesthetics. 343-350.
Ranta, M. (1997). Brysons relativism och kritik av konstvetenskapen. Symposium om konstvetenskapen : 18-19 april 1996 : vi granskar oss själva och vår verksamhet. 35-46.